If I'm honest, this is not a venue or a timeslot I would recommend to anyone.

In terms of the venue, part of the problem was the building work which was going on, meaning that there was often loud noises of hammering, drilling, sawing etc throughout the show, as well as workmen coming in and out. This, of course, should not be a problem in other years.

However, having the performing area in the main bar was also not ideal, and to be honest it was fairly clear that the venue staff were not entirely enamoured with having us there. The room itself, also, is not a good shape and is entirely too big to create any sort of intimate atmosphere. On top of which, the layout meant that the barstaff would frequently walk across the performing area during the show.

The location, on paper, should be ideal for flyering, being right beside the Assembly. However, we found that many Assembly-goers were quite snobby about the idea of a Free Fringe show. Furthermore, the time slot meant that on week nights most of the passing traffic were suits on their way home from work who had no interest in the Fringe. I actually found that flyering on the Royal Mile was almost more effective than flyering outside the venue.

Admittedly the show before ours often had a very large audience, but again I think it was the combination of timeslot and venue, rather than just the venue itself, which worked against us. The other problem with the timeslot being that it also meant that people were coming into the bar for an after work drink who had no interest in the comedy and were not prepared to keep their noise down during the performance. On more than one occasion one of us was threatened with violence by a customer when we asked them to stay a little more quiet.

All that said, we had some good shows, some bad shows, some excellent, and just one that we had to pull for lack of an audience. Overall, it wasn't the best experience, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, as they say, and I'm sure we all learned a lot.

However, if offered the same venue again in the future, I would have to think long and hard before accepting.